1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and a system for providing automated information to users of a mobile communications system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile, or wireless, telecommunications service providers offer a variety of services to subscribers, such as call forwarding and voice-mail messaging. As the number of services grow, it is increasingly difficult for subscribers to remember how to access all of the features of a particular service from a mobile telephone because feature codes are usually numeric values, such as *56 or *71, having no apparent association with a particular feature. Similarly, some features are infrequently accessed by a subscriber, such as changing call forwarding when going on vacation, and are not readily remembered.
One approach to overcome this problem that has been tried by some mobile telecommunications service providers is to distribute printed handbooks to subscribers. This approach has met with limited success because it is not realistic to expect subscribers to carry and refer to such a handbook.
Some mobile telecommunications service providers have tried to address the problem of providing help information by providing a xe2x80x9c611xe2x80x9d number that connects a subscriber to a customer service representative. Nevertheless, it is desirable to automate customer help service as much as possible so that subscribers are not required to wait for a customer service representative.
Providing automated help via telephone or other electronic communications system is well-known. In such a systems a user enters an information request using either DTMF tones or spoken words that are recognized using well-known speech recognition techniques. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,183 to Bareis et al. discloses a cellular telecommunications system that uses spoken commands for dialing telephone calls. The Bareis et al. system includes a speaker-dependent speech recognition system that performs customized functions based on the MIN of the subscriber. Pre-recorded instructional messages are generated by the system for instructing a subscriber on progress in using the system, such as prompts like xe2x80x9cReady for commandxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cPhone number pleasexe2x80x9d. While the Bareis et al. system provides automated help for customizing dialing functions in response to spoken commands, the Bareis et al. system does not respond to a request for information about a specific service function or feature.
Further, help information is typically most needed when a subscriber is roaming into another market area that provides different features and feature codes than offered in the subscriber""s home market. For example, in the situation when a subscriber roams into a market area that provides a Do Not Disturb (DND) service from a market area that does not provide such a service, dialing 611 may not provide the subscriber with the desired help information because a 611 call will be routed to a customer service facility for the visited market and may not provide the same interface capability as the customer service facility of the subscriber""s home market.
Another related problem associated with providing automating help services for wireless subscribers is that each different wireless telephone type of model potentially accesses service features in a different way. Consequently, automation of help service functions becomes complicated because different subscribers need different help explanations based on their terminal equipment. Providing context sensitive help information in a computer system environment is well-known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,323 to Miller et al. discloses a system for providing help to computer system users. According to Miller et al., context sensitive help is tailored to the needs of individual users. Nevertheless, Miller et al. does not disclose that help information can be provided based on the equipment used by the user requesting the help information. Further, Miller et al. is directed to a computer system environment, not a telecommunications system environment.
What is needed is a way to provide automated help information to subscribers of a mobile telecommunications system that is context sensitive with respect to the mobile terminal equipment being used by a subscriber.
The present invention provides a method and a system for providing automated help information to subscribers of a mobile telecommunications system that is context sensitive with respect to the mobile terminal equipment being used by a subscriber. Thus, a subscriber can conveniently obtain answers for the following exemplary questions about services without calling a customer service representative: How do I store a telephone number in memory? How do I retrieve a telephone number from memory. How do I read a text message? How do I store a text message? What capabilities does the cellular network have for Calling Number ID?
The advantages of the present invention are provided by a method and a system for providing automated information to a subscriber of a mobile telecommunications system in which a request for information is received on a mobile telecommunications system from a mobile communications device, such as a cellular telephone or a personal communications device. A type of mobile communication device from which the request for information is received is determined by accessing a mobile communications device profile based on an ESN and an MIN associated with the mobile communications device. The requested information is then sent to the mobile communications device. According to the invention, the requested information is context specific to the type of mobile communications device from which the request for information is received.